Different Choices, new life
by The Mome Raths Outgrabe
Summary: Loki and the sorting hat have a conversation or Loki makes a choice and everything changes.
1. Chapter 1

_A quick mind, clever...mischievous. You have many of the traits of a Slytherin: you can be cunning, resourceful and very ambitious You could be great in Slytherin._ Loki rolled his much smaller than normal eyes. Not because he was opposed to being in Slytherin, his house colors were the same as Loki's battle armor and he probably was well-suited to the house but it was really the principal of the thing. He could hear the things thoughts without everyone else hearing them and the hat must be able read his thoughts and mind to find his strength, so it could probably easily hear any thoughts directed at it.

 _You do know what your housing separation does right? All those in Slytherin are seen as future death eaters by the rest of the school and even in Slytherin it becomes a sort of self-fulling prophecy. Everyone else thinks you will go dark, everyone else around is dark so if you are sorted in Slytherin that you must be destined for darkness._ He had found out about this school around 200 years ago and had kept tabs on it ever since. He had always wanted to attend this school despite the fact that he was neither human nor a child anymore. That didn't even mention that his magic was very different from the others, but he was fairly sure that he would be able to fake fitting in. There were a few things about this world he didn't understand (don't even get him started about Quidditch) and few more that bothered him, one of the was the housing system.

 _I understand the purpose of the housing continued It is to foster unity inside each house and competition between each house. But by pairing people together by their common strengths they are really pairing them with people who are already similar to them and then they only learn how to get along with people who are already like themselves. How can you grow and develop new strengths if everyone around is the same and you don't have to learn how to get along with people that are different from you? How does that prepare you for the world outside of Hogwarts?_ There was was a long moment of silence in which Loki assumed the hat was thinking about what he had spoken about. Then he heard a gasp in his mind.

 _You're not eleven. You're not even human!_ He winced, so he was 1000 years old rather than the 11 that his body was supposed to look like everyone. He shrugged.

I _t's a learning opportunity,_ he thought and then quickly continued, _I want to learn about you Midgardians. I promise that no one who is not asking for it will get hurt physically._ The hat's voice didn't speak for a long moment and Loki starting to fear that the Sorting hat would tell everyone that he was in imposter and this short vacation from Asgardian life would be cut even shorter. In reality if you translate the age differences between Asgard and Midgard I am only 16 and I want to learn. He thought as earnestly as he could manage he didn't want to be sent home on his first day.

 _What would you suggest to replace the system?_ The question surprised him a little, but he managed to respond

 _Random sorting_ he said shortly.

 _No one has ever brought up the point that you have._ The Hat said slowly as if he were seriously thinking about this point.

 _Well, most of the people you sort are foolish, fresh, fearful 11-year-olds who only care about what house they are going to be sorted in._ Loki pointed out.

 _What house do you want to be in?_

You take _requests?_

 _Sometimes, when it seems that I would put undue hardship on a child by putting him or her in a certain house, as long as they aren't too dissimilar from the house in question._ He took in that little tidbit of information and wondered where he actually wanted to be placed. He had thought that even after he had told the hat that he would be placed in Slytherin regardless. But the hat was apparently giving him a choice of what house he wished to be placed in. Which house did he want to be in? His mouth curved in his trademark mischievous smirk, he knew the perfect choice.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Thor or Harry Potter.**

 **A/N: So I am continuing this and I know it will have at least two more chapters but it's a toss up whether or not there will be any more than that.**

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"No."

"What?" Albus asked surprised as he thought he had explained it very thoroughly. Explained that this way the only way to protect Harry from Voldemort. It wasn't what he wanted either, but to keep Harry safe from harm it was what had to be done surely Luke had to see that.

"No," he repeated again crossing his arms defiantly. Luke had always been a peculiar student, scholarly he was one of the best, magic came to him much easier than it came to many other students. One of his biggest issues though was behavior. He at times has issues with people of authority and he was pretty sure that he had been in detention more than any of the other Marauders and that was quite a feat. He was pretty sure he was behind some the wilder pranks of the Marauders. What was perhaps his strangest trait of all was that while he was closest to the Maurders he had friends in all houses

"You are not going to take my nephew to live with his uncle who hates magic-users, who will hate him for being magic. Who will probably not tell him about it or try to stamp it out of him or both."

"I'm sure-" Albus was abruptly cut off by.

"Really, because Petunia was so friendly with her sister all these years?"

"But now that's she's gone-"

"You think just because Lily's dead that will fix everything between them?" he looked at him like he was the most foolish man on earth. He wasn't used to that, but he had to preserve to get Luke to understand, lest he do something foolish like steal the child away in the night.

"You might be able to guilt Petunia into taking him in, but you can't guilt her into to caring for him. You can't guilt her into loving him," he said with fire in his eyes and venom in his voice.

"Luke, you know how dangerous it would be for him if doesn't go," Luke started laughing a great boisterous laugh that had him wondering not for the first time if Luke was perfectly sane. However, before now he'd never been dangerous unless provoked quite a bit and he had never hurt anyone physically past what they had done to him first. His words though his words could scar far more, but they were reserved for those he thought truly vile.

"He's not going with them and do you know why?" he said with a mocking smirk as soon as the laughs calmed down. Albus frowned at him but didn't quite know how to handle this as few of his pupils were so openly defiant of him even after they had graduated. Luke leaned forward.

"I suppose it's time I told you the truth, as it likely the only way you will understand any of this. My name is not Luke Oldstien. My name is Loki Odinson," his smirk now resembled a shark. A green shimmer went over his form and he looked slightly younger and his hair was longer, but the most notable change was his outfit it had gone from dress robes to metal and leather armor. He hadn't used a wand and while there he could be using wandless magic he had a feeling that wasn't what was happening. He had always felt something that told that there was something off about the young man, but he had always assumed that it was his mental health, but now he could feel it was his magic. It was different. "So you feel it." It wasn't a question. "I'm not human," he went on to say. "When I first came here I could barely stand wizards, but I grew to like some of them more than others. I did come to like both Lily and James and I will be damned if I let Harry grow up with people who hate magic without any kind of safety net," he said spitting out the last couple of words before turning more stoic and he nodded once. "Granted where I am going to take him also isn't friendly with boys and magic, but at least there he will have me. Oh and for Voldemort. As far as I know Voldemort can't pass realms yet so he'll be quite safe in Asgard. He will have a safe childhood where he will be cared for and then when he is 11, if you can make sure he's safe, I will allow him to go back to Hogwarts."

"But the charm won't-" He smiled again and this time it send shivers down his back.

"I will put enough charms on him that Voldemort won't be able to look at him without having a sudden and unexpected urge to kill himself. But if he tries anyway let me know I'd love to pay him back for what he did to my friends," he said with a very dark look in his eyes that left no room for questioning what Loki meant by that.

"I'm not sure it's wise-" Albus said trying to talk Luk-Loki out of this course of action, after all he seemed to be quite unstable.

"That prophecy says that only Harry can kill him, but I'm not sure it took me in account and even if it did I can sure do a lot that won't kill him," He interrupting sending even more shivers down his spine. Loki put up his hand his face blanking again.

"Look, I know you are against this, fortunately," Loki was suddenly on the other side of him. There was no soft pop that usually accompanied apparating. Loki smiled widely again "You know how annoying it is to always make that apparating sound when I don't have to just so people don't realize what I am?" He shook his head, this was less of the unstable madman and more of the amused mischief maker he was used to, but he knew that the madman was still underneath. "What was I saying?" he looked confused for a moment before he smiled again "Right, fortunately, I don't need your permission. Harry will be with me until his 11 birthday, at which point I will bring him here or anywhere of your choosing where you can get him ready for school. This paper." a paper popped out of nowhere with a green flash "Will be our only method of correspondence until his 11th birthday and I bring him back here," he put the paper down on the desk, but before Albus could argue any further he was gone. He had a feeling where he had gone but had to be sure. He quickly apparated to Privet Drive. Hagrid had brought Harry here only two days ago. He knocked on the door even though he had meant to stay out of the muggle's way until Harry was of age. He had to know. He had to know if Harry was still there, still protected. The door opened to reveal Mrs. Dursley in a nightgown and with curlers in her hair She took one look at his appearance and visibly recoiled.

"What do you want?" she asked icily obviously hating his very presence at her doorstep. He was starting to get the feeling that maybe Luke- Loki had been right that the hatred in her for magic was not stronger than the familial bonds with her sister.

"I'm here to inquire about Harry," her lip curled again, and he felt even more certain that the the young man who was not a man was right.

"He's asleep." she said pointing upstairs "He keeps waking up Dudley with his crying," she said with narrow eyes.

"May I see him?" Albus said barely able to hold back the disdain he felt for the woman in front of him that didn't seem to realize that Harry had lost his parents not even two days and was with strangers who obviously didn't care for him. That was enough to confuse and make any one and half year old cry. After a moment she nodded, but the look of disdain on her face didn't go away. Albus made his way up the stairs in the direction that Petunia had gestured to before and in the dark hallway nearly tripped on a few toys that littered the hallway. He made his way past the room that had in large letters DUDLEY'S ROOM and a room that was obvious a lavatory, before he stopped at the first room that he was unsure of it's purpose. He opened the door to see a crib, an empty crib.

"He's gone," Albus whispered he hoped that Loki was right that Loki could protect him from harm.

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 **Loki's Hogwart days will only be told in somewhat sporadic flashbacks if I decide to continue it past chapter 3. Let me know what you think :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Thor.**

 **A/N: I meant to put this up much earlier, but I got kind of distracted.**

 **A/N: Thanks so much everyone to everyone who has read this.**

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"You've been gone for 10 years." His father said fury radiating from his single eye. Loki barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes. It had probably tarnished Odin's imagine in his absence which was likely why he was so angry about it.

"Where have you been?" His father demanded. It was a fair question and one that he needed to answer as he had brought something back that needed to be explained.

"I took a small vacation," he said as ten years was really a blink in their long life spans.

"Where?" This question came from his mother who also seemed angry, but at the same time worried. He couldn't stall anymore, not when his mother was looking at him like that.

"Midgard," he said then winced as he waited for the shouting to start.

"Midgard you know that-"

"Midgard but they're." There was a lot of shouting from his father and brother who had chosen that moment to chime in. He chose to block out the yelling until they simmered down enough to where they would yell at him one at a time.

"Why? Why Midgard?! Why didn't you tell me or bring me along?!" Thor shouted suddenly at him his big blue eyes looking so hurt that he felt a stab of guilt that he hadn't felt in a long time. Perhaps it was this stab of guilt that made him answer more honestly than he was planning to in the first place.

"I had to get away," Loki spoke quietly. He had been so full of anger and resentment towards Father and Thor that it had been starting to eat at him, turning him into something that he didn't like being. He still had that center of darkness, but after he had gone to earth some of the darkness on the edges had faded hated to think how deep the darkness would be if he hadn't taken a break. He swallowed and shakily said.

" I just needed a break."

"Without me?" Thor asked still looking hurt and Loki found that he wasn't as resentful of the presumptive nature of the question as he thought that he would be. In fact, he found himself smiling, but they had more urgent matters to get back to. The place where he had stashed Harry wasn't really meant to be a long-term space for living organisms, though short term it worked just fine.

"I…" he trailed off why was it that he could stand up to nearly anyone, but when it came to his family he got so nervous and definitely didn't live up to his name silver tongue. This was particularly true when he was telling them something he wasn't sure they would respond positively to.

"When I was on earth I made some friends," he said slowly ignoring that hurt look in his brother's eyes and look of anger in his fathers. "They over time became very good friends," he said with the same careful pace. He knew his father's and brother's view on Midgardians, they viewed them like goats. Honestly, near the beginning he had been nearly the same. It was hard after spending so much time with them though not to see how brilliant humans were and how adaptable they were, especially due to their levels of technology.

"I had this one set of friends, in particular," he said and anger roared through him at the thought of Lily's and James death, even though he still wasn't convinced that Sirius was the one that did it. If he had to venture a guess he would say it was Peter, there had always been something off about him, but he had always just assumed it was his awkwardness. Maybe he just hadn't wanted to see it. Besides, Peter was the least interesting of the group and as such he had spent the least time talking with him, especially one on one and knew him less well than he knew many other people. He shook his head, his thoughts were going off a tangent and he had Harry to think about though it would still be awhile before Harry was in any danger.

"I was there at their wedding," It had been a great day. He shook his head it would do little good to get buried in his memories now. He realized that the statement likely needed some clarification.

"One of my friends married another one of my friends," He had been friends with Lily and the Marauders and to a lesser extent Snape. Neither Snape or the Marauders which could understand why he would want to talk to the other. He had never made the two groups become friends, but when James or Sirius got to be real gits to Snape he told him to cut it out. He wasn't always there though and they still get into some pretty heated things. Again, he was being side-tracked.

"They get attention from someone bad in the wrong way and I thought that they were taking care of it by themselves," If he had thought for a second that they weren't he wouldn't have let them out of his sight. No matter the rules that stated that they couldn't interfere unless the conflict that Midgard was facing came from a source not native to Midgard as currently they were a class B planet. Class B planets had no way to get to the nearest inhabitable planet from where they were, nor did they have enough magic or technology to made up for it. They had magic, but as it was a hidden part of society with small numbers that would be vastly outnumbered by the majority of society. If the magic was revealed to the rest it could cause a world war, because of that it wasn't counted. There was also many other planets could still easily take it over without its Class B protective status. But that was also a tangent and he kept wandering away from his point.

"They got betrayed by a friend and they both died leaving their young son motherless and fatherless," he held out his arms and used his magic to call Harry back into his arms. He heard three gasps from his family members.

"I'm keeping him," he said this time without an ounce of question or regard for approval in his voice, it wasn't a question. He was keeping him. Loki would raise him. The question merely was would his family allow him to do it there or would have to find some other planet to do it on?

"But it's human." his brother said dumbly looking down at the child in his arms.

"He's human" Loki corrected "and I know. He has magic and I already promised that he could attend the same school that his parents did in eleven years. When he's 18, he'll go live full time in the human world," Loki said though he had a suspicion that when the time came it would be a lot harder than it sounded at the moment. Harry was human though and once he was an adult by Midgardian standards he belonged in the human world. Telling them that also served another purpose, his parents might be more willing to accept this human child if they knew that was only for a limited amount of time. "I am keeping him," he repeated "The question merely is will you allow me to do it here or do I need find somewhere else?" He said airing his feelings on the matter aloud. His father opened his mouth only for his gaze to be incepted by his mother. The two argued using only their eyes for a long moment before His father sighed.

"Alright, you may keep the child." he said tiredly and Loki smiled.

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 **A/N: So right now this is all there is but if I get inspired/more inspired there may be a lot more to come in the future...assuming people want there to be more. Also, it's been awhile since I've read the books or seen any of the movies so if I wrote something inaccurate let me know**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or Thor or Avengers.**

 **A/N; Let me start this chapter by saying going forward this will be a WIP. I have a general direction for it but it probably won't be updated as regularly as it was the first time around and that the story format might change soon. Again, I warn everyone that it's been awhile since I've seen Harry potter movies or books so if I get anything wrong please tell me.**

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"You're really going to try to raise a child?" His mother asked.

"Believe me, it wasn't my first choice but he's only other option was growing up with a bunch of wizard-hating muggles," he spat out as he looked down at the sleeping baby in the crib that his mother managed to find somewhere. His mother was the only one who didn't seem severely disappointed and baffled by his decision. She did, however, sound doubtful of his ability.

"You do know they cry?"

"Yes mother I am aware." he said with a roll of his eyes, he wasn't a fool. He had helped take care of Harry back when he was a newborn. He could do so now that he was older as well. He brushed the infant's dark hair, dark like his own, physically they were not dissimilar, though he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. He looked at his mother out of the corner of his eye, she looked concerned as she looked between him and the young child.

"You think that I've made a mistake?" he said softly.

"I think you don't know how hard children are." she answered just as softly.

"Doesn't matter. I'm his best hope," he replied with a shake of his head.

It was driving him nutters. The crying, it hadn't been so bad at first but then he hadn't stopped and the constant crying to was driving him barmy. He didn't seem to be able to get him to stop. It was then that he remembered that it had been much easier before because when Harry had cried as an infant because Lilly had taken him and he had stopped. Lily wasn't there anymore and it was up to him and he wasn't doing a very good job. He had no idea what he was doing wrong but apparently he was doing it well, because the child would not stop crying. After what felt like days, but, in reality, was only a few hours his mother glided into the room like she seemed to glide into every room.

"Mother make it stop!" it came out as more whiny than he had hoped. He looked at her for aid and she raised an elegant eyebrow.

"Not as easy as you thought?" Loki simply glared in response. She took the child into her arms and made some motions and noise, within moments, Harry was silent and grasping onto her like a lifeline. Loki had watched it happen and honestly had no idea what she had done. He had no idea how he was going to be able to do this, and he found himself sitting down. She looked at him sympathetically this time.

"It's hitting you isn't it?" Loki nodded. He had agreed to take care of this child for the next 16 or so years. It was barely three hours into it and he wasn't sure if he could do it. She nodded and kept doing what she doing which was apparently some sort of rocking motion although with shushing noises.

"I'm only 1000 years old," he said putting his head in his hands. Men his age were warriors, or workers. Sometimes they were married but often didn't have children until they were at least 1500, he was jumping into this quite early. The good and bad of it was that it was only 16 years. Normally childhood took 1000+ years, Harry would be an adult in the mortal world in 16 years. The good news was that once those 16 years were up he would get to revert back. The bad news is that he would parent a child that grew and matured quicker than anyone on Asgard and he only had 16 years to raise Harry the best that he could. Which honestly he wasn't sure how good of a guardian he'd be. He wasn't exactly good with rules himself, would he be any good at trying to set them for others? He was tired, both mentally and physically it had been a long day and he had barely even began to grieve for his fallen friends, as he had been more concerned with their son's fate to consider theirs.

"You are going to have to learn," his mother said interrupting his thoughts. He looked up saw her doing similar motions as before. He nodded, he was aware he would have to learn. He would have to learn how to soothe, bathe, feed Harry and raise him. The latter seemed the most daunting. For a moment, he wished that he had left Harry at his biological aunt's house, but only for a minute. He knew what kind of life he would have had there with those magic-hating muggles. Whatever he was, whatever Asgard was he would make sure that whatever life Harry had there was better than the one he would have had if he would have stayed where dumbledore wanted him to stay. He prepared himself to get up and start to learn, but his mother's voice stopped him.

"However, the time for lessons is for tomorrow, tonight I will take care of him and you will watch, learn, and breathe," Loki couldn't remember a time that he had been more thankful to his mother than this exact moment.

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 **I have a very important question. I'm American but when I know how I try to British it up but I'm probably not getting all instances correct so is it better to not pretend or to keep doing it the way that I am?**


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